(1) Missed Call
by Punzie the Platypus
Summary: Post-Avengers. Pepper rushes home from D.C. and comforts Tony after the Battle of New York. He tells her that she didn't pick up her cellphone when he was about to die. Slightly angst-y.


_**Soli Deo gloria**_

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own The Avengers.**

 **A re-watching of The Avengers prompted this. So this is immediately after the battle of New York.**

Pepper fled the private car before it could roll to a full stop in front of Stark Tower, or, er, A Tower. The elevators, compromised by the massive amount of destruction the building had suffered, were forgotten as she ran and finally hurriedly walked up dozens of stories. Panting, she threw the door open to see her boyfriend in an undershirt and jeans sitting on the couch. The laptop on his lap and the nonchalant look on his face contrasted with the gaping open piece of the building smashed all over the nice new tile.

"Oh, you're back. Nice to see your flight wasn't late," Tony Stark said casually.

"TONY!" Pepper leapt over the couch and landed next to him. She cradled his face and hurriedly examined his concerned but amused eyes; finding nothing wrong except for a few cuts, she stopped short and stared at him, catching her breath.

"Were you looking for a brain injury or a cracked skull or anything in particular?" Tony asked.

She smashed her lips against his and held his head against hers. It was safe to say that she was pretty sure that he didn't have a brain injury.

Several seconds later, they were now both completely out of breath.

"Well, it's good to see you too," Tony said, rubbing a hand across his lips, which would be _very_ sore later.

"The news—Loki—aliens? _More_ aliens? Chitauri? And New York—and—and that missile! They say it was nuclear. You almost died! You could've died!"

Tony held up a finger with a smug smirk. "But I didn't."

Wrong thing to say. Pepper glared at him and hit his rather healthy head with a pillow.

"Hey, hey," he said, leaning over her, his hand gently at the crook of her neck. "But I didn't."

"You almost did," she whispered softly.

Tony felt awful for causing those tears gathering up in her eyes. "It was something that had to be done. I was on a ship with Captain America—and he said I'd never be able to make a sacrifice like a hero—that I wasn't much of a man, suit or not. It was kinda me showing him up."

"And saving the city," Pepper reminded him.

"Oh yeah, that too. The 'I told you so' was the main motivation, though," Tony said, making her laugh.

"No, it wasn't," Pepper said.

"You can keep thinking that if you'd like," Tony said.

Pepper pressed a fingertip lightly against the glowing blue on his chest. "It was the inside of here that made you do it."

"You mean my arc reactor? It's mainly made of tech rather than flesh and blood—"

"I mean your heart," Pepper said. He gave her a look and she scoffed. "You know what I mean!"

"I know." Absentmindedly, he brushed her blonde hair behind her ear, looking intently at her. In those moments leading up to his blacking out, the worst one wasn't when he realized that he was probably gonna die as he blacked out. It was when there was no hope left and Pepper hadn't picked up her phone. Now he couldn't have enough of her. Man, but he was glad he was alive right now.

"I called you," he said.

"What?" Pepper said, confused.

"When I had the missile and I was flying up into the portal, and all I could hear was the wind and my voice and JARVIS. I-I called you. 'Cause I thought, 'Well, I'm not going to get say "I told you so" to Rogers, 'cause I'm going to die. And before I die, the last voice I want to hear is Pepper Potts's.' And, you didn't pick up."

"Your call—I saw it on my missed calls—I was watching the news on my plane the entire time—I tried calling back so many times—I'm so sorry, Tony. I had no idea. The last thing I wanted to do when I was about to watch your death on national news was check my phone!" She hung her head and pressed it against Tony's chest. She breathed shakily and he moved his hand from her cheek to her back. She put her own hand over his, as if to make sure it never left her.

"Neither of us signed up for this—" Tony began, trying to find the right comforting thing to say.

Pepper inhaled sharply, like a scoffing laugh. "No, we did. When you became a superhero and when I became your girlfriend. The stress, the pain, the death—you _do_ know we signed up for all of it?" She looked up and saw the seriousness and pain in his eyes. They were the eyes of a Tony Stark the press never saw—barely anyone ever saw this Tony—except her.

"I'm sorry," he said, like he knew all the other words he could say meant nothing.

"Hey, no apologies right now, okay? No more, anyway. I can only handle so much right now. Let's—let's just take a minute," Pepper said, sitting up and facing him. They sat a couple of inches from each other and just spent a moment drinking in the other.

Tony glanced at her barefeet. "Where are your shoes?"

"This is like the sixtieth floor. I ditched my heels by the third floor," Pepper said.

"You ran up all those stories? Really? Do you just practice for marathons in your spare time? And not tell me? Rude." Tony earned another pillow at his face, but this time Pepper had a smile that said she didn't mean it.

She ended up leaning against his shoulder and saying softly, as the wind played across the damage of Stark Tower and surrounded them with soft breezes like kisses, "I'm awfully glad you're okay. And I'll spend more time on my phone from here on out."

"That's all I ever wanted to hear," Tony said calmly. However, he checked the tears in his eyes and settled for pressing a lasting, loving kiss on her ginger-tinged hair. She was fine and so then he was fine. Well, neither were really fine right now, but they would be. For right now, they would just be okay.

And that was okay.

 **Thanks for reading! Review?**


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